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TheUltimateWinner
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 22 Jan 2021, 09:02
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Quote:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

(A) Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was

(B) Rhone, which sold for $20.2 million, was

(C) Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million,

(D) Rhone was sold for $20.2 million, being

(E) Rhone, sold for $20.2 million, and was
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Request Expert Reply:
Hello Experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, BrightOutlookJenn, AndrewN, EducationAisle, generis, RonPurewal, DmitryFarber

Here, the correct choice is:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

The core is:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.
^^ the strike through part is non-essential modifier here, right? If this is the case, those parts will not effect to the meaning of the sentence, I guess.
So, the core is:
The Bridge of Trinquetaille was sold for $20.2 million.
^^ It seems that $20.2 million is the price of the 'bridge' not the 'painting' at all! But, I think, $20.2 million should be the price of 'painting', isn't it?
Could you clarify the reason, please?

Advance thanks...
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 22 Jan 2021, 13:25
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Hello, TheUltimateWinner. I will respond in-line below.

TheUltimateWinner
Quote:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

(A) Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was

(B) Rhone, which sold for $20.2 million, was

(C) Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million,

(D) Rhone was sold for $20.2 million, being

(E) Rhone, sold for $20.2 million, and was
Request Expert Reply:
Hello Experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, BrightOutlookJenn, AndrewN, EducationAisle, generis, RonPurewal, DmitryFarber

Here, the correct choice is:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

The core is:
In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.
^^ the strike through part is non-essential modifier here, right? If this is the case, those parts will not effect to the meaning of the sentence, I guess.
Show more
Not every phrase can be called a modifier—the two latter phrases in the sentence are both appositives, for example—but you have correctly identified the core of the sentence.

TheUltimateWinner
So, the core is:
The Bridge of Trinquetaille was sold for $20.2 million.
^^ It seems that $20.2 million is the price of the 'bridge' not the 'painting' at all! But, I think, $20.2 million should be the price of 'painting', isn't it?
Could you clarify the reason, please?

Advance thanks...
Show more
The italics indicate a title, and since there is a later reference to a painting, we can say with certainty that The Bridge of Trinquetaille is the title of the painting that was sold for $20.2 million. Without the italics, the sentence would indeed be confusing.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to call upon me on this one.

- Andrew
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 19 Feb 2021, 19:45
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.


(A) Rhone sold for $20.2 million and it was
-suggests the view itself was sold...WRONG

(B) Rhone, which sold for $20.2 million, was
-same issue as A)...it's unclear whether the which is modifying the painting or the 'view'

(C) Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, CORRECT

(D) Rhone was sold for $20.2 million, being
-same issue as A)

(E) Rhone, sold for $20.2 million, and was
-'was sold' is required; the appositive in C) is correct so there's no need for 'and was'
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 03 Apr 2021, 15:40
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experts, what makes C correct? Please correct me if I am wrong, but is there a main verb in C ? One can argue that "was" is the verb in C, but it is embedded inside a pair of commas, making it seem like it is acting as a modifier instead of a verb. Please shed some light. Thanks!
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 04 Apr 2021, 05:42
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experts, what makes C correct? Please correct me if I am wrong, but is there a main verb in C ? One can argue that "was" is the verb in C, but it is embedded inside a pair of commas, making it seem like it is acting as a modifier instead of a verb. Please shed some light. Thanks!
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Hi shenwenlim, was is indeed the main verb. Everything inside two commas isn't a modifier.

For example, both the following sentences are correct:

Magic Johnson, former American professional basketball player, lives in LA, a city in California.

Ford Mustang, a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford, is the fifth-best selling car from Ford, an American car-maker.

So, a better approach would be to strip off the modifiers in a sentence, to expose the core of the sentence. In the above sentences, I have done the same below:

Magic Johnson, former American professional basketball player, lives in LA, a city in California.

Ford Mustang, a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford, is the fifth-best selling car from Ford, an American car-maker.

Similarly,

In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone, was sold for $20.2 million, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 04 Apr 2021, 19:45
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Hi GMATNinja

Can you please explain to which noun does "which" in option (B) refer to?
I think it refers to "view", since "of an iron bridge" and "over the Rhone" are prepositional phrases/modifiers, and hence "which" can jump over them to refer to the main noun that is "view"

Can you please tell if my understanding is incorrect?

Thanks!
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 26 Apr 2021, 11:21
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Laksh47
Hi GMATNinja

Can you please explain to which noun does "which" in option (B) refer to?
I think it refers to "view", since "of an iron bridge" and "over the Rhone" are prepositional phrases/modifiers, and hence "which" can jump over them to refer to the main noun that is "view"

Can you please tell if my understanding is incorrect?

Thanks!
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Well, it's really the painting that sold for $20.2 million, not the view. So it makes more sense for the "which" to modify The Bridge of Trinquetaille.

Notice that "Vincent van Gogh's view of an iron bridge over the Rhone" is an extra comma-separated modifier. Grammatically, the sentence would be okay without it -- and without it, the "which" clause would come right after the title of the painting. Of course, with the addition of the comma-separated part, the logical meaning becomes a bit harder to follow.

Luckily, we don't need to worry too much about (B) because it has a glaring error. Stripping out some modifiers, (B) can be boiled down to: "The Bridge of Trinquetaille was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction."

That doesn't make any sense -- $20.2 million, not the painting itself, was the second highest price ever paid.

I hope that helps!
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 29 Oct 2022, 10:48
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KarishmaB generis MartyTargetTestPrep

How to know "sold" in option E is past participle or simple past tense verb?
If I am not wrong, "sold" as past participle will modify - Rhone while "sold" as past tense verb will modify - The Bridge of Trinquetaille
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 29 Oct 2022, 11:00
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KarishmaB generis MartyTargetTestPrep

How to know "sold" in option E is past participle or simple past tense verb?
If I am not wrong, "sold" as past participle will modify - Rhone while "sold" as past tense verb will modify - The Bridge of Trinquetaille
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We can tell that, in (E), "sold" is a past tense verb because "sold" is connected to "was" by "and."

So, "sold" and "was" must do the same thing, which has to be to serve as the main verbs of the sentence since there's no other possible verb that could be the main verb.

Of course, the (E) version is rather illogical. So, determining the function of those words is an odd project since what they do results in an illogical sentence.
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 29 Oct 2022, 11:08
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KarishmaB generis MartyTargetTestPrep

How to know "sold" in option E is past participle or simple past tense verb?
If I am not wrong, "sold" as past participle will modify - Rhone while "sold" as past tense verb will modify - The Bridge of Trinquetaille
We can tell that, in (E), "sold" is a past tense verb because "sold" is connected to "was" by "and."

So, "sold" and "was" must do the same thing, which has to be to serve as the main verbs of the sentence since there's no other possible verb that could be the main verb.

Of course, the (E) version is rather illogical. So, determining the function of those words is an odd project since what they do results in an illogical sentence.
Show more

MartyTargetTestPrep

Please correct me if I am wrong but what generis mentioned (the very first comment in the thread on page 1) is that
"-- Option C correctly avoids a construction in which the past participle "sold" refers to "Rhone"
-- RULE for past participles on the GMAT:
If we have [comma + past participle] (verbED/SOLD), then
the past participle modifies only the immediately preceding noun or noun phrase.

Sold cannot "jump back" over a whole phrase to reach its subject, the painting.

In E sold incorrectly refers to the immediately preceding noun, Rhone."

Reading this, it seems that sold is "participle" else as a verb, it can definitely refer back to painting and hence E would be correct.
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 29 Oct 2022, 13:35
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MartyTargetTestPrep

Please correct me if I am wrong but what generis mentioned (the very first comment in the thread on page 1) is that
"-- Option C correctly avoids a construction in which the past participle "sold" refers to "Rhone"
-- RULE for past participles on the GMAT:
If we have [comma + past participle] (verbED/SOLD), then
the past participle modifies only the immediately preceding noun or noun phrase.

Sold cannot "jump back" over a whole phrase to reach its subject, the painting.

In E sold incorrectly refers to the immediately preceding noun, Rhone."

Reading this, it seems that sold is "participle" else as a verb, it can definitely refer back to painting and hence E would be correct.
Show more
In the (E) version, "sold" indeed a verb with subject The Bridge of Trinquetaille. So, there's no issue with the use of "sold."

(E) is still incorrect, however, because it conveys that The Bridge of Trinquetaille "sold for $20.2 million, and WAS THE SECOND HIGHEST PRICE EVER PAID."

Since, The Bridge of Trinquetaille clearly was not a price, that meaning is nonsensical.
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 30 Oct 2022, 00:19
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KarishmaB generis MartyTargetTestPrep

How to know "sold" in option E is past participle or simple past tense verb?
If I am not wrong, "sold" as past participle will modify - Rhone while "sold" as past tense verb will modify - The Bridge of Trinquetaille
Show more

That depends on whether you want to use 'sold' in active or passive voice.

My father sold my old bicycle. (active)
My old bicycle was sold by my father. (passive)

My old bicycle sold my father. (Not ok)
My old bicycle sold for $10. (Ok. Active. This is the price it fetched because of its characteristics. Now my father is nowhere in the picture here. I am only talking about my old bicycle and its value)

He sold the famous painting. (active)
The famous painting was sold by him. (passive)
The famous painting was sold for 10 million dollars. (Ok. Passive. Someone sold it and this is the price it fetched. There is a seller in the picture though they are not mentioned)

The famous painting sold for 10 million dollars. (Ok. Active)
This is acceptable because here we are not talking about a seller. We are implying that the paintings characteristics fetched this amount. Someone bought it for this much amount. There is no seller in the picture in this case.

In active voice, 'sold' is a past tense verb only. It cannot be a past participle.
In passive voice, to make a past tense verb we must use 'was sold' or 'were sold.'
In passive voice, when we use only 'sold,' it is used as a past participle.

In option (E), 'sold' is active voice past tense verb. It implies that the seller is not in the picture. Nothing wrong with that.
In option (C), 'was sold' is passive voice past tense verb. It implies that the seller is in the picture but not mentioned. Nothing wrong with that either.
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In June of 1987, The Bridge of Trinquetaille, Vincent van Gogh's view 27 Nov 2023, 03:43
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